Opinion
Mimimi: 20 years of trouble with network operators
by David Lee
An attempt to stream Netflix cheaply with a mobile router
2.10.2018
Translation: machine translated
Pictures: David Lee
The current Internet plans are too expensive for me. I'm looking for a cheap alternative, which turns out to be more complicated than I thought. Many plans include complete packages or opaque combination offers. But I'm not giving up (yet). I may have found a solution with a mobile router.
When I saw that the normal Basic Internet plans with Swisscom, Salt and Sunrise all cost around 60 francs a month, I was quite surprised - I thought I would surely get away with it for less. Now that I live alone, I have to pay for everything myself. I think 60 francs a month just for internet is a lot.
I don't want a TV subscription and I can do without a landline phone. But many subscriptions are just such combination offers. The plans are opaque and difficult to compare as all suppliers offer something different. Plans without combinations are either expensive or too slow for me. I want fast internet to watch Netflix. I don't game online.
To watch Netflix in HD quality, I need a download speed of 5 Mbit per second. It would be 25 Mbit per second for UHD or 4K quality.
Comparis and dschungelkompass show comparisons: If I don't want to bumble around with only 2 Mbit per second download speed, I can't avoid paying around 50 francs per month just for the Internet. That's still too expensive for me. And that's not even including the router and installation fees.
There must be a cheaper way to do it
We have the idea in the editorial team. My colleague Martin Jud asks why I don't use a SIM router and take out a data subscription. I like the idea. I think about it further; I don't need a data subscription at all. Because at Swisscom - my provider - I can request an additional SIM card for my existing plan. The second SIM card costs me just 10 a month and a one-off fee of 40 for activation. Ingenious - and too good to be true. But there's a catch: although my mobile phone subscription includes unlimited Internet, the second SIM card is limited to 40 GB per month.
40 GB is definitely not enough. Watching Netflix in HD quality requires up to 3 GB per hour. That would be just over 13 hours of Netflix per month. Clearly not enough.
I search further and find the Mobile Internet Comfort subscription from Sunrise.
This looks good. The speed is up to 10 Mbit per second. That should be enough for Netflix in HD quality. However, I'm also taking a risk with this, as I don't know what Sunrise's network coverage is like in my flat. According to the network coverage map from Sunrise, I have 4G reception. However, I don't have much choice but to simply try out how effective the reception is. If it doesn't work, I can cancel the plan after 60 days. In that case, I would lose 87 francs. This is because activation, including the SIM card, costs a one-off fee of 49 francs on top of the subscription price of 19 francs.
I did a speed test with my Swisscom plan and got 19 Mbit per second with three out of four bars of 4G connection. As my flat is in the city of Zurich, I'm optimistic about the network coverage.
I'm going to get the plan and a mobile router and I'm curious to see if it really works in my flat.
What do you think? Can I watch Netflix for 20 francs a month without a cable connection? Or is the idea totally stupid? Is there anything I should definitely bear in mind?
Testing devices and gadgets is my thing. Some experiments lead to interesting insights, others to demolished phones. I’m hooked on series and can’t imagine life without Netflix. In summer, you’ll find me soaking up the sun by the lake or at a music festival.
Computing
Follow topics and stay updated on your areas of interest
64 comments
later